Page 79 of Handsome Devil
He studied me, his jaw ticking. “I want to fight with you.”
“What?”
He rubbed his jaw, like he was agitated. It was too sexy. I tried not to look away. But couldn’t he just please not touch himself at all when he was near me?
“Look, no one speaks to me the way you do,” he said. “No one who works for me challenges me. They don’t even look me in the eye. You’ve got one hell of an attitude, but it’s… refreshing.”
Record scratch.
Oh, God. That word…Refreshing.Katie said that Jesse said the same thing about her.
When he fell in love with her.
“Gross. No.”
“What?”
“Ugh. Nothing. Go on.” I looked out my window. We were like six blocks from my place. Late night party traffic was at a crawl, though. The street was plugged up with taxis and drunk people.
“The truth is,” he said, “I have no reason to fire you, Devi. Unless you give me a reason to. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
I looked at him. “No.”
“Don’t fight with me.”
I bristled. “Look. Your family may own the company that ultimately employs me, but you don’t get to tell me, as a human, what to do.”
He licked his lip a little, and I looked away. Couldn’t he also keep his tongue in his damn mouth? “I’m asking you. Don’t fight with me, okay?”
I considered what he was asking me. And why.
Then I met his eyes again. “Because you like it?”
“Yes.”
Urgh.Something weird and dark and twisted stirred in my gut.
It just irritated me more.
“I don’t get this,” I said, annoyed. “What are you saying?”
Wasn’t he pissed about that major dig I took at him tonight? Bringing his broken engagement into this?
That was a low fucking blow, and I’d expected even a man as icy and buttoned-up as Dane to return fire.
“I’m saying if you fight with me,” he said evenly, “I’m going to have to fire you. You’re an intelligent woman. You know you can’t keep fighting with your employer the way you do, right out in the open, and hold onto a job. One way or another, I’d have to let you go. Or…”
“Or?”
“Or fight back.” He held my gaze, and I could see it: he knew he’d have to go with option A, professionally speaking. He’d have to fire me, like he said, if I kept fighting with him.
But he really wanted to go with option B.
I swallowed.
“And if I fight back,” he warned me, “things may get ugly. For both of us. AndthenI’ll have to fire you. So I’m asking you to consider saving us both the trouble and just stop fighting with me.”
I didn’t respond.
